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History

Early Life

Betty is the daughter of General "Thunderbolt" Ross. She was the roommate of fellow "army brat" Janet van Dyne during her college years when Jan started seeing Hank Pym at NYU. She earned a degree in communications at Berkeley and started dating the Super-Soldier Program's head scientist, Bruce Banner. Her relationship with Bruce soured after Bruce's failed attempts at cracking the super soldier problem turned him into the Hulk. After the Hulk was captured by her father, she ended her relationship with Bruce and temporarily moved to Soho.[1]

Ultimates

When the Ultimates were assembled, she became their Director of Communications/Public Relations Officer. During this time, Bruce attempted to rekindle their relationship but was spurned and belittled by Betty who boasted of having dinner with actor Freddie Prinze, Jr. This caused Banner to take some of Captain America's recently rediscovered blood, combine it with his Hulk formula and inject it into himself, resulting in his transformation into the Hulk and went after Betty stating that she was the only person that he had left. Bruce was eventually brought down by the Ultimates, but not before killing more than 300 civilians. Ironically, seeing Bruce's desperate devotion to her and being perversely attracted to his savage Hulk persona, she took a new romantic interest in Bruce.[2]

When her good friend Janet was almost killed by her husband Hank during a domestic violence dispute, she revealed that she knew of Hank and Jan's past personal problems but decided to keep silent about it. She described how sometimes Jan would appear to have chunks of her hair pulled out and that Hank had once slammed her head through a door.[3]

When it was leaked to the public that Bruce Banner was in fact the Hulk, she was devastated knowing that no jury would acquit him of his crime and it was a certain death sentence. Though she coldly went along with the government's plan to execute Bruce, she broke down during the trial. She declared her love for Bruce, offering to have sex with him while she still had the chance, and asked him for forgiveness. Bruce granted neither wish (partly because the dialogue was being broadcast live, making him feel inhibited).[4]

She-Hulk

When S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered that Bruce was still alive, Nick Fury asked Wolverine to find and kill the Hulk. Betty didn't approve of this but it was beyond her control. She has recently shown interest in Nick Fury but they both, along with almost all the Ultimates, were captured during the Liberators' attack on U.S. soil. They were later freed when Bruce Banner returned. Betty was seen tending to an exhausted Bruce after the battle with the Liberators and Loki in Washington, D.C.[5]

After Wolverine was given the assignment to hunt down and "take care" of the Hulk, Betty angrily and unsuccessfully attempted to convince Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to save Bruce from Logan. After Dr. Jennifer Walters has succeeded in producing a version of the Hulk serum which transforms the subject without inducing Hulk like rage,

Betty becomes She-Hulk.

Betty attempted to convince General Fury that Dr. Walters was seeking to sell the super-soldier serum to the Chinese. As Betty took a SHIELD jet to Tibet where Wolverine and Hulk were fighting, Fury discovered that Jennifer was actually secretly acquiring a copy of the new Star Trek film a month early and angrily ordered Betty taken down, but not before she injected herself with the serum and underwent a graphic and arousing transformation into a female Hulk. After landing and announcing "I'm Plan B", much to the horror of Wolverine Betty revealed her identity, causing an enraged and crying Hulk to state, "Betty break Hulk's heart... now Hulk break Betty!"[6]

Wolverine confronts Betty.

After the fight, Betty went to Casablanca, where she was later confronted by Wolverine. He told her to put on a collar that was made for the Hulk, which, if she put it on, would choke her to death if she transformed into She-Hulk. She refused to put it on and transformed into She-Hulk, and fought Wolverine. She gouged out one of his eyes, but he stabbed her in the kidney, and forced her to tell him where Bruce was. She agreed, and then turned back into Betty, and Logan left her.[2]

Some time after that, Betty was caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. and they started trying to reverse-engineer what she did to herself. After the Hulk grabbed Fury and threatened to kill him, Fury told him about Betty now being in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession, and that as long as Betty is working for them, the Hulk will not hurt them, he then left the Hulk and Wolverine in the middle of nowhere after declaring the Hulk to be free.[7]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Superhuman Strength: Betty has become proportionally stronger due to injecting herself with Jennifer Walters' improved version of the Hulk serum.

Superhuman Durability: She-Hulk's body is highly resistant to all forms of conventional injury.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite her body's high resistance to injury, it is possible to injure her. However, she is capable of rapidly regenerating injuries that result in great tissue damage and blood loss within a matter of minutes. However, she is not capable of regenerating missing limbs or organs. She-Hulk's highly efficient metabolism renders her immune to most drugs and toxins as well as total immunity to all known Earthly diseases.

Abilities

Betty Ross is a cunning and shameless public relations mastermind with an obsessive work ethic, an almost invariably heartless attitude, and a knack for deceit and manipulation.